Guess what? It’s only Eurovision Song Contest time again. And with year’s final coming from lovely Liverpool this 13th May, it feels closer than ever for Polyglossic. What better time for our annual Eurovision language diversity health-check?

It’s been a long time since we were guaranteed a full sweep of national languages at the contest. That’s not to say linguists are out of luck in recent times, though. The 2022 edition still managed to serve up a not-bad-at-all eleven languages other than English.

So how does 2023 measure up?

Voici les votes du jury Polyglossic

This year, viewers will hear lyrics in the following languages across all three shows:

• Albanian
• Armenian
• Bulgarian (in Czechia’s entry)
• Croatian
• Czech
• Finnish
• French
• Italian
• Portuguese
• Romanian (twice over – in Moldova and Romania’s entries)
• Serbian
• Slovene
• Spanish
• Ukrainian (in Czechia’s entry as well as part of Ukraine’s)

2023 has it – that’s fourteen non-English languages represented on the banks of the Mersey.

Eurovision Thanks Go To…

As ever, it’s hats off to France, Italy, Portugal and Spain for being stalwarts of non-English entries. Merci, grazie, obrigado, gracias. But it’s the Balkans which have made an especially strong comeback this year, positively treating polyglot fans with home tongues. Then, there’s Czechia, who deserve an extra special mention. Vesna clock up two languages other than Czech, alongside English. Výborně!

Particularly exciting is the return of Finnish, given that Finland is one of this year’s big favourites to win (currently playing catch-up in the betting odds with Sweden’s returner Loreen). Finland has, of course, won the contest before; monster metalheads Lordi broke a 45-year wait for a win in 2006. But that was in English; if Suomi’s Käärijä wins this year, it will be the country’s first win in the home language.

Hyvä Suomi!

Which languages are you pleased to hear this year, and which do you miss? Let us know in the comments! But above all – enjoy this year’s show!